Buy Now, Pay Later. Fire Now, Rehire Later. Crash Now.

On Tuesday, Klarna — the “Buy Now, Pay Later” fintech that fired 700 employees and replaced them with an AI chatbot in 2024 — cut its full-year guidance and watched its stock drop 22%.

CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski’s greatest hits, your honor: 🐊

🤖 2024: Siemiatkowski said AI could “already do all of the jobs that we as humans do.” Headcount went from 5,500 to roughly 3,500. He’d previously told OpenAI’s Sam Altman he wanted Klarna to be his “favorite guinea pig.”

😬 2025: Customer satisfaction collapsed. The AI couldn’t handle complaints. Siemiatkowski walked it back: there would “always be a human if you want.” Quiet rehiring began.

📉 Today: Beat every Q2 estimate — revenue, EPS, margins. Cut full-year guidance anyway, from $4.34B to $4.08–4.16B, citing FX pressure and a slowdown in Germany. CFO Niclas Neglén and CMO David Sandström are both departing in early 2027. Stock: -22%. Down 45% year to date.

The company that fired everyone for AI, rehired everyone because of AI, and now can’t keep its own C-suite from leaving. Buy Now, Pay Later — apparently also their staffing strategy.

Welcome to the Circus. 🎪